by E. L. Todd
Pepper drank her beer then stared at her bottle, like the scene was boring to her.
I couldn’t believe my brother got hit on like that—left and right. He got offered more pussy than he could handle, and it wasn’t just ordinary pussy. All the women were always beautiful, confident, and sexy. I never had that kind of luck—with men or women.
“Man, she definitely wants to fuck you,” Zach said. “Like, bad.”
Finn didn’t respond. Like he hadn’t heard what Zach said, he watched the game on the TV.
“Or did you already fuck her, and now she wants you to fuck her again?” Zach asked.
Finn gave an answer, which was surprising. “No.”
“No?” I asked in surprise. “Really? How long have you been working with her?”
“Since I started.” Finn still seemed bored by this conversation.
“Well, are you going to hit that?” Zach asked. “She’s gorgeous. And with all that ink and that sexy body… Jesus.”
“Maybe you should go for it,” Finn asked. “She’s single. She’s mentioned it several times.”
“Like I could get a woman like that,” Zach said incredulously. “I’m a good-looking guy, but she’s crazy-hot. And she’s a doctor…damn. That’s like the hottest chick I’ve ever seen.”
“Enough,” Pepper. “Let’s stop objectifying the woman.”
“Why?” Zach asked. “You’ve never cared about that before.”
“She’s Finn’s friend,” she said as she stared at her beer. “Maybe show some respect.”
Zach rolled his eyes. “I don’t think Finn cares, not when she’ll be his fuck buddy soon.”
Pepper ran her fingers through her hair, like she was warm on a summer day. Her skin turned slightly pink as the sweat started to form.
“I won’t sleep with her.” Finn announced it to the table.
“Why the hell not?” Zach asked. “What’s wrong with her?”
“Nothing,” Finn answered. “I’m not picky when it comes to women. But I don’t sleep with my coworkers.”
Pepper released a deep sigh.
“But you’ve brought nurses home before,” I countered. “Remember the girl who walked around naked?”
“I remember,” Finn said. “And that’s fine. I don’t work side by side with them. But another doctor would just create an uncomfortable situation. When I’m at work, I don’t have time to focus on anything else besides my patients. A colleague who’s pissed that I dumped them could make my life difficult.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Zach said. “But she’s sooo hot—”
“Stella just walked in.” I spotted her walk through the front door. “Remember what we talked about. You gotta be strong, alright?” Finn was right beside me, so Stella would revert to her usual behavior of doing whatever was necessary to make him jealous…even though it was totally pointless.
“Alright.” Zach took a long drink of his beer, like he was taking a shot.
Stella came to the table. “Hey, guys. How’s it going?” She turned to me. “How was your thingy?”
“Good,” I said. “San Diego is really—”
“Honey, could you get up?” Stella asked Pepper. “So I can scoot in?”
Pepper didn’t roll her eyes even though she obviously wanted to. She rose to her feet and let Stella slide in first. “Sure.”
Stella took the seat beside Zach, and just like I expected, she was all over him. She wrapped her arm around his neck and leaned in to kiss him. “I missed you.”
Zach had the strength to pull her arm off him. “No thanks.” He turned his lips away from her kiss and grabbed his beer. Like she meant nothing to him, he took a drink and looked at one of the TVs on the other side of the bar.
I would never forget the look on Stella’s face. She looked wounded—seriously wounded.
She stared at him with an open mouth, like she didn’t know what to say to this betrayal. She must have been mortified because she wouldn’t make eye contact with anyone.
Then it got awkward…super awkward.
13
Pepper
Stella talked my ear off as we walked down the hallway to my apartment.
“Can you believe him?” she asked incredulously. “He just drops me like I’m nothing?”
I barely listened to what she said because all I could think about was Layla, the sexy goddess covered in bright ink who also had a license to practice medicine. She was so undeniably beautiful, so exotic, and I died inside when I watched her squeeze Finn’s arm before she walked away.
Died.
I was just an ordinary brunette who sold sex clothes for a living.
I couldn’t compete with that.
Finn said he wouldn’t sleep with her, but that wouldn’t last forever. That woman was way too beautiful to ignore. She would probably switch hospitals just so she could fuck him.
That’s what I would do.
“I can’t believe Zach.” Stella stepped inside when I got the door unlocked. “Can you believe him?”
There was no way Finn didn’t want to fuck Layla. She was exactly his type, a badass woman who loved ink as much as he did—and she looked amazing in it.
“Pepper? Are you listening?”
I snapped back to the conversation. “No offense, Stella, but you do the exact same thing to him.”
Both of her hands went to her hips, a warning of the fire that was about to flare up. “Excuse me?”
“You pick him up when it’s convenient, then drop him again. It’s the exact same thing. You’re just using him to make Finn jealous, and he knows that. How do you think that makes him feel?”
Her mouth stayed open because she was speechless.
“Yes, it was embarrassing, but I don’t blame him. You forget that Zach is your friend, and you shouldn’t take advantage of his feelings.”
Her arms slowly crossed over her chest, and her mouth closed.
“I know you don’t want to hear that, but he’s my friend too. I know Finn hurt you, but that doesn’t give you the right to hurt Zach.”
She sighed slowly. “Yeah…I guess you’re right.”
“Why do you care so much about Finn anyway?” I asked. “I’ve never seen you so affected by someone else’s opinion.” Stella had always been confident and self-assured. She went for what she wanted and didn’t care what the haters had to say. This was unlike her.
“I don’t know… I’ve never been rejected before.”
I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. I’d been shot down a few times in my life, but I didn’t let it bother me because it was normal. But knowing Stella had never experienced that once in her life because she was so breathtaking made me want to pull out that pretty hair.
“I guess he hurt my ego, and I couldn’t let it go. I wanted to change his mind to prove something to myself.”
“Prove what?” I grabbed a bottle of wine and poured two glasses. “That you’re gorgeous? Stella, the world knows you’re gorgeous. You have the perfect face, perfect hair, perfect body…you have the perfect everything. There’s nothing to prove. Finn is just…I don’t know.” I had no idea why he turned her down because I never asked. “You shouldn’t let a man’s opinion change your confidence.”
“Yeah…you’re right.” She grabbed the glass of wine off the counter and took a drink. “I should let it go.”
“Definitely.” When I drank from my glass, the color remaining from my lipstick smeared against the surface. “What about Zach?”
“What about him?”
“Why don’t you go for him?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know…”
“I doubt you only kissed him to make Finn jealous. If you don’t want to kiss someone, you don’t kiss them. Besides, he’s good-looking, has a good job, he likes to be active…he’s a catch. He may not be a bad boy like what you’re used to, but he’s still got potential.”
“Yeah, maybe,” she said. “But I’m pretty sure I blew it when I acted
like that.”
“You could start with an apology and see where it goes.”
“Not a bad idea.” She depleted the glass then set it on the counter. “I wasn’t a very good friend to him, so it’s the right thing to do, even if I still don’t get that D.”
I missed getting D from Finn. It’d only been a few days, but I missed it like crazy. What I missed the most was feeling his arms around me while we lay in bed. I missed his hard chest, his masculine smell, and the way he always touched my neck with those rough fingertips. So it wasn’t even the sex I missed most…just him.
“So what about you?”
I stopped thinking about Finn and focused my gaze on her face. “What do you mean?”
“Are you getting D from anyone new?”
It felt strange to have these feelings for Finn and not be able to express them. I normally told Stella everything about my life. It didn’t matter how embarrassing it was. She never laughed at me, unless she was laughing with me. “No. But I’m sure it’ll happen soon.”
“Definitely. When we go out this weekend, guys will be fighting each other to buy you a drink.”
I’d never had a guy throw himself at me the way Layla threw herself at Finn. I was so jealous it hurt, but I had no right to feel that way. He wasn’t mine. He was only mine for the week, but our time together was over. I didn’t have any hold on him. So I should go out and move on with my life…even though that was the last thing I wanted to do. “Sounds like a plan.”
After Stella and I had a few glasses of wine, she went home. I sat on the couch with the TV on and considered opening another bottle of wine, but if I continued to drink like that, I wouldn’t be able to get my pants on. One, they wouldn’t fit. And two, I would be too drunk to get them on anyway.
The one person I confided all my feelings to was the one person I couldn’t tell. Colton got upset just watching me check out Finn. When he realized he’d overreacted, he’d said it was a stupid reaction because he knew we would never betray him like that.
Even though we already did.
My phone lit up with a text message. I looked at the screen and saw Finn’s name. I’m sorry about tonight.
I knew he was referring to Layla persistently trying to get in his pants, something he had no control over. She was just one of many women who touched his arm like that on a daily basis. It was something he shouldn’t apologize for. There’s nothing to be sorry for.
The last thing I want to do is hurt you.
And just like that, this man turned me into a puddle of feelings all over again. He made me want him more, not less. He made me want to grip tighter and never let him go. I know. But I’m going to have to get used to it.
I’ll never get used to seeing you with someone else. But I’ll try.
14
Colton
After I woke up that morning, I went downstairs and made myself a bowl of cereal. I sat across from Finn, who was already awake and clean from a shower. Shirtless, he drank his morning coffee while he looked through the medical records he had to dictate.
I drank my coffee and waited for the caffeine to kick in on my system.
“How was your night?” Finn didn’t look up from his computer as he spoke to me, his ink covering all the individual muscles of his chest and arms.
“Great.” Tom had slept over…but we didn’t get much sleep. “Yours?”
He shrugged and never answered.
“Do you work today?”
“Day shift.”
“Does it suck working at different times of the day?” I’d always had a job that was eight-to-five. I wasn’t sure if I would like working random times and random days of the week.
“No. It’s better than something repetitive and boring.”
“So even if you could do the exact job during the morning shifts, you wouldn’t want to?” I asked in surprise.
“No. Different shifts bring in different kinds of patients. It’s good to change things up.”
“I guess that makes sense.”
He grabbed his mug and took a drink.
“So, anything gonna happen with Layla?”
He finally lifted his chin to look at me. “I told you, I don’t fuck my colleagues.”
“Yeah, but, come on.” I was gay, and I knew she was hot as hell. “Layla is insanely sexy. She’s just like you. She’s fit, covered in tattoos, she practices the same kind of medicine—”
“I don’t want someone just like me.”
“Well, if you don’t want her, then maybe you’re gay too.”
His eyes narrowed. “Just because I don’t want to fuck someone doesn’t mean I’m gay.”
“I meant it as a joke. I’m just shocked that someone like you wouldn’t go for it. You never stick to the rules.”
He didn’t have a response to that.
“I just can’t believe someone that gorgeous bought you a drink and you’re immune to her charms. It’s like you have some kind of superpower. Maybe you just get hit on all the time, so you’re used to it.”
“Maybe I’m difficult to impress.”
“You just said the other night that you aren’t picky when it comes to women.”
“I’m not. But I am picky when it comes to professionalism.”
“So if she worked somewhere else, would you fuck her?”
He never answered the question. “Why are you interested in who I fuck?”
I shrugged. “Because I’m your brother, and we talk about this stuff. Seems like you haven’t been with anyone in a while, like you’re going through a dry spell or something.”
“Thanks for being so concerned about my dick…” His tone dripped sarcasm.
“I’m just curious. We’re friends, right?”
He turned back to his computer.
Tom came down the stairs, dressed and ready for work. “Hey, Colt.”
“Hey.” I turned in my chair to look at him. “Sleep well?”
“Absolutely.” He leaned down and kissed me. Then he laid eyes on my shirtless brother. “Whoa…”
Finn wasn’t rude to him the way he was to me. He looked up from his computer without a threatening gaze in his eyes. “Morning, Tom. There’s coffee in the kitchen and some leftover eggs in the pan.”
“Thanks, but I’ve got to get to work.”
“I’ll walk you out.” I walked Tom to the front door then said goodbye on the porch.
“Do you realize how hot your brother is?” he asked, lowering his voice.
“Yes…I get that a lot.” I rolled my eyes.
“Don’t worry, he’s not as hot as you.” He kissed me on the mouth before he walked to his car parked at the curb. He waved before he drove away.
I returned to the kitchen. “You’re a lot nicer to him than you are to me.”
“Because he doesn’t grill me about my sex life. And he has a car, so I don’t have to drive you around.”
“You didn’t drive me around much in the first place.”
“But I don’t drive you around now at all.”
“You don’t mind driving Pepper home all the time,” I countered.
“Because I actually like her.” He turned to his computer then pulled out the first folder he would be dictating. “A lot more than you.”
Zach dribbled the ball to the hoop and made the shot. The ball tapped against the rim a few times before it finally sank inside. “Dude, this is so sick. I want to buy a house someday just to have a hoop.”
“Yeah, it’s nice.” I grabbed the ball then dribbled back until I could make a three-pointer. “My brother doesn’t use it much.”
“That’s a waste. He doesn’t use this hoop, and he doesn’t fuck Layla. What the hell is wrong with that guy?”
I shrugged then made the shot. “Beats me. I’ll never understand that guy. So, have you talked to Stella?”
“Nope.” He stood with his hands on his hips. “Haven’t heard from her.”
“I think you made the right decision.”
“Yeah…or I just pissed her off.”
“And that was the right decision.” I passed the ball to him.
He chuckled then made the shot. “I guess it doesn’t matter anyway. She was never going to sleep with me—unless Finn was sitting at the foot of the bed.”
I shrugged. “If you still got to fuck her, I guess it wouldn’t be so bad.”
He shook his head as he laughed. “I’m not that desperate, man.”
Finn’s truck pulled into the driveway, so we both stepped aside to let him pull into the garage. That’s when I noticed a large kennel in the bed of the truck. “Why does he have a kennel?”
“Did he get a dog?” Zach asked excitedly.
Finn got out of the truck, opened the bed, and then opened the door to the cage. “Come here, man.”
“Oh my god, he got a dog!” Zach practically shrieked like a girl. “That’s so sick.”
A large German shepherd jumped to the ground then wagged his tail, looking at Finn like he was already bonded to his new owner. He was full-grown and already had an identification tag on.
“Who’s this?” I kneeled down and gave him a good rubdown.
Zach did the same. “Wow, what a cool dog. What’s his name?”
Finn closed the bed of the truck then looked down at both of us. “Soldier.”
“Soldier?” I asked. “That’s a pretty cool name.”
“I didn’t pick it. That’s what his officer named him.” Finn crossed his arms over his chest and watched us play with the new dog.
“The officer?” I stood up and looked at him.
“He’s a K-9 dog. He’s been working with the police for a long time. His handler came into the ER, we started talking, and he said that he’s getting ready to retire. But since he’s being relocated to the East Coast, he couldn’t take him.”
“So you took him?” I asked in surprise.
“Yep.” Finn smiled as he looked down at his new companion. “I’ve always wanted a dog, and I thought we would be a good fit for each other.”
Soldier barked like he agreed.